retty
effect, without any degree of gaudiness, being usually white or pale
yellow, small, and frequently only half-blown. Those generally chosen for
these occasions are the bunga-tanjong and bunga-mellur: the
bunga-chumpaka is used to give the hair a fragrance, but is concealed
from the sight. They sometimes combine a variety of flowers in such a
manner as to appear like one, and fix them on a single stalk; but these,
being more formal, are less elegant than the wreaths.

DISTINGUISHING ORNAMENTS OF VIRGINS.

Among the country people, particularly in the southern countries, the
virgins (anak gaddis, or goddesses, as it is usually pronounced) are
distinguished by a fillet which goes across the front of the hair and
fastens behind. This is commonly a thin plate of silver, about half an
inch broad: those of the first rank have it of gold, and those of the
lowest class have their fillet of the leaf of the nipah tree. Beside this
peculiar ornament their state is denoted by their having rings or
bracelets of silver or gold on their wrists. Strings of coins round the
neck are universally worn by children, and the females, before they are
of an age to be clothed, have what may not be inaptly termed a
modesty-piece, being a plate of silver in the shape of a heart (called
chaping) hung before, by a chain of the same metal, passing round the
waist. The young women in the country villages manufacture themselves the
cloth that forms the body-dress, or kain-sarong, which for common
occasions is their only covering, and reaches from the breast no lower
than the knees. The dresses of the women of the Malay bazaars on the
contrary extend as low as the feet; but here, as in other instances, the
more scrupulous attention to appearances does not accompany the superior
degree of real modesty. This cloth, for the wear both of men and women,
is imported from the island of Celebes, or, as it is here termed, the
Bugis country.

MODE OF FILING TEETH.

Both sexes have the extraordinary custom of filing and otherwise
disfiguring their teeth, which are naturally very white and beautiful
from the simplicity of their food. For files they make use of small
whetstones of different degrees of fineness, and the patients lie on
their back during the operation. Many, particularly the women of the
Lampong country, have their teeth rubbed down quite even with the gums;
others have them formed in points; and some file off no more than the
outer coat and